Feast of the Visitation teaches us to show concern for others

About 100 people turned up to celebrate the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, City Parish, Penang.

There was the usual Mass, followed by a simple candle-light procession that weaved in and out the church’s gates.

Celebrating the Mass was Fr Michael Thoo, assistant parish priest of City Parish, and con-celebrating with him was the parish priest, Fr Dominic Santhiyagu.

Fr Dominic read the gospel and gave the homily, where he pointed out that the Feast of the BVM brought forth three important points to consider.

“First, is concern” he said. “there is a special concern shown by Mary on learning of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. She knew that in Elizabeth’s time of pregnancy, she will need hel and someone to talk to, so she choose to be with Elizabeth.”

The second point is visitation, said Fr Dominic, as he said that Mary took the trouble to visit Elizabeth although Mary stayed far away from Elizabeth. Finally, there is joy. When Mary visited Elizabeth, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt with joy.

“Today’s feast then teaches us to show concern to people, encourage us to visit people to spend time with one another and in doing these, bring joy to people.” said Fr Dominic. “Let us pray that Jesus will bless us with these 3 gifts – concern, visitation and bringing joy.”

A decade of rosary was said in the church after the Mass ended. This was then followed by a short procession, that weaved through the ‘in’ gate and ‘out’ gate and back to the church. Fr Dominic held the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the parishioners held lighted candles. The rosary continued during the procession and ended inside the Church. – by Lucia Lai